Got My New Shoes On

My REI obsession continues.This time, it is a shiny new pair of hiking boots. I don't think I have owned hiking boots since I was a day camp counselor, choosing usually to hike in my tennis shoes (or my old trail runners, but those got left in Costa Rica).

They are kind of boyish, but they are so far super comfy (I am trying them out, hiking around my house...maybe I'll climb on and off the table to test how they handle different movements and terrain).

Now I'm ready to hike. Who's with me?

(and yes, every time I get new shoes, I sing and dance:

nerdy...I don't care)

Holy Crazy Town

I really need to know where they find these crazy biotches of The Real Housewives. I think they are supposed to be 30/40 year old women, but they act like the mean girls in high school, screaming and ish and nothing!

Highlights include,

- "Hello police? There has been an alteration..."

- "I was attacked, my hair was pulled out of my head..."

- and the best...getting all bent because someone accused the other's home of being in foreclosure.

This was all in the space of a few minutes, and it makes me wonder if these women will ever look back and cringe at their own antics? Do they have that much sense?

I know...this is lame, but it's summer and not much is on later night TV.

Lack of Appeal

There are things that I just don't get...Crocs, mesh tops, ironic mustaches...and the appeal of Kristen Stewart.

First, a disclaimer...I have never seen any of the Twilight movies beyond the trailers they show incessantly on TV. I have no desire to see these movies. I don't know that I ever will. So...know that. Right now, as I write this, I am watching Adventureland, a movie that I really like, and where she plays the love interest.

But I have seen La Stewart in several other movies over the years, and, well, they can change her hair, they can change the name of her character...but they can't change the fact that she plays every part the same way: with the expression she is wearing in the picture above, and a disaffected attitude. Pretty much how she is on every red carpet, as well.

"I'm weird and awkward and going to pull my shoulders to my ears even though you all love me and I am a huge star."

Get over it, really. I have yet to see her show any range, or show any reason why all these guys in the movies would be in love with her. She barely smiles, which is too bad, because when she does, she's quite lovely.

There's really no point to this post, other than she bugs me in this movie and in the Twilight crap I can't seem to escape. I'm pulling for her to surprise us...but won't be shocked when that doesn't happen.

I Need it Now

This is hilarious...I could totally imagine this conversation happening!

I want the bigger Gee Bees.

And I was Running

If you had asked me -- as a kid, teen, young adult -- how I felt about running, I likely would have scrunched my face and responded with an, "ugh. I can't stand running."

As any of my coaches...I was the last one to finish a run, the first one to find an excuse to sit out, and often the one who would get behind and decision to skip it that day at practice.

I started running begrudgingly about 7 years ago. I lived next to the park, and it was easy to throw on my shoes and go for an early or post-work jog. I found myself complaining quite a bit (to myself), my knees hurting, my hips, really, whatever I could find that may hurt would start to hurt. Then my grandma got sick and couldn't walk, and I thought...my body is healthy and still moving despite my whining. I need to be better than this. And, so, I decided to run a half marathon.

Still didn't love it, but did it anyway. And I did a few more, for no real reason, and I kept jogging, though it wasn't my favorite thing.

So imagine my surprise when, the other day, I realized...I am a runner. I run a few times a week. I enter races FOR FUN. I log my miles, keep track and try to correct what may be hurting, and set (slight) goals.

But more than that, I feel gross if I don't run. I now actually NEED to run.

This is so weird to me, and as silly as this sounds, I still have a hard time getting my mind around it. Me, a runner? Running to something other than a beer or my couch? This really, truly, baffles me.